Cards I'm considering: Sever the Bloodline, Grasp of Phantoms
Sever is the stones, right? I've never played with it before.
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Pack 1 pick 2:
Cards I'm considering: Invisible Stalker
Best card in the pack.
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Pack 1 pick 3:
Cards I'm considering: Pitchburn Devils, Spectral Flight, Ghoulraiser
I thought about taking devils and building a R/B deck, but I decided to try and stay U/B. I chose spectral flight because it's a good stalker card, good with other random U/B losers like markov patrician, and ghoulraisers usually table.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 4:
Cards I'm considering: Victim of Night, Spider Spawning
I believe Spider Spawning is one of the most powerful effects in the format. Short of dagger-stalker, 5 spiders then 6 spiders is pretty hard to beat. However, some of the feedback that I got on my last draft indicated that stalker isn't that great in spider spawning decks, and if I had to choose one I'd rather make a deck around a card that I already have. Since I already have sever and intend to play U/B, I feel like victim is a better pick here.
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Pack 1 pick 5:
Cards I'm considering: Runechanter's Pike, Feeling of Dread
I kind of panicked here. I don't want another spectral flight (yet), so I didn't consider it. That left the equipment, and Feeling of Dread. The only reason I gave feeling any consideration at all is because I like it so much, and I've been seeing a fair amount of white come through this way, so it wouldn't be a huge stretch to switch to U/W. I decide against it, though, because I already passed a few good white cards. That left the pike. I don't think the pike is that great, but I feel like it could have potential in a U/B deck with lots of spells. I already have a victim and a sever, so it could end up being OK. I'm not thrilled about it though.
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Pack 1 pick 6:
Cards I'm considering: Dead Weight
I guess black is a good color to be in.
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Pack 1 pick 7:
Cards I'm considering: Spectral Flight, Corpse Lunge, Traveler's Amulet
I look at the amulet, but I'd rather stay in 2 colors. I still don't want another spectral flight yet, either. That leaves corpse lunge. I don't like lunge in general, but it's in my colors, it's removal, and it could help to fuel the pike I just took.
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
Cards I'm considering: Dream Twist, Altar's Reap
I've been liking dream twist more and more, but I don't think this is a dream twist deck, yet.
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Pack 1 pick 9:
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Pack 1 pick 12:
Man, really?
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Pack 2 pick 1:
Cards I'm considering: Falkenrath Noble, Army of the Damned
Another pretty hard pick. I don't know exactly how good Army of the Damned is. It feels kinda slow for this format, but I never played with it before. I DO know that Falkenrath Noble is one of the best uncommons, so I went with the safer pick.
If anyone has any opinions about Army, I'd love to hear them.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 2:
Cards I'm considering: Vampire Interloper
I like the occultist, but I just love 2 drops in this format.
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
Cards I'm considering: Silent Departure
This is one of my favorite cards in the format.
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Pack 2 pick 4:
Cards I'm considering: Victim of Night
I'm enjoying a nice amount of removal for a change. I looked at the geist for a second but I don't think I'd pass a victim for it in my deck.
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Pack 2 pick 5:
Cards I'm considering: Moon Heron, Walking Corpse, Selhoff Occultist
I need a guy here, and I think the 3/2 is the best one.
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Pack 2 pick 6:
Cards I'm considering: Vampire Interloper
I like Abbatoir Ghoul, but, 2 drop.
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Pack 2 pick 7:
Cards I'm considering: Typhoid Rats
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Pack 3 pick 1:
Cards I'm considering: Garruk Relentless
I DROP MONEY DOWN NOW GET THAT MONEY GIRL
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Pack 3 pick 2:
Cards I'm considering: Morkrut Banshee
I think the banshee is the best card in the pack for me.
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Pack 3 pick 3:
Cards I'm considering: Stitcher's Apprentice, Blazing Torch
I look at the apprentice for a second since it would kinda help with my 2 banshees, but torch kinda does the same thing, and is a little more useful.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 4:
Cards I'm considering: Vampire Interloper
I like this card.
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 5:
Cards I'm considering: Victim of Night, Claustrophobia, Tribute to Hunger
This is a hard pick. I think the best card of the 3 is Claustrophobia, but at this point the blue in my deck is not more than a splash, so I don't think I can support it. It would be my 3rd victim of night, so I think about taking tribute to diversify (and also to not be dead in case I play vs. the werewolf deck), but I decide that I like victim too much to defend against the faster decks. I'm not confident in this pick.
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Pack 3 pick 6:
Cards I'm considering: Typhoid Rats
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Pack 3 pick 7:
Cards I'm considering: One-Eyed Scarecrow
Once again, I find myself needing creatures.
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Pack 3 pick 8:
Cards I'm considering: Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Great stalker card. Good interloper card. I'm happy to see this so late.
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The cards on the right in my sideboard were my last few cuts. I'm pretty happy with this deck because I have a real amount of removal for a change.
R1
Game 1, I mulligan 5 swamps, victim, moon heron into a 1 land hand with two interlopers. I don't draw a second land for a few turns, which is enough time for him to punish me with a 1 drop and a mausoleum guard. WHen I finally draw lands, I'm at such a low life total that he has too many guys for me to be able to come back.
Game 2, I have a great hand that includes T1 dagger T2 interloper, with torch and dead weight to stop his stromkirk noble and avacynian priest. A couple typhoid rats and a falkenrath noble later, and he concedes without playing anything besides a selfless cathar.
Game 3, I'm on the draw, but I double mulligan into B, B, U, Sever, and Dead Weight. I'm able to use my early removal to stay alive, but I don't draw anything pressure wise except a ghoulraiser and a morkrut banshee, which I don't have an easy way to trigger. He has brimstone volley for the ghoulraiser and rebuke for the banshee, and then a voiceless spirit, so he's ahead again. He adds a mausoleum guard which I flash back sever on. I draw a noble and equip it with a dagger and a haulberk to make an unstoppable mosnter, but he has Ghostly Possession (of all cards) for it. I don't draw anything else relevant and I die to two 2/2s and Olivia Voldaren.
Disappointing loss. I don't think my deck was deserving of a round 1 loss. I could have played 17 lands I guess, but most of my action happens with 2 or 3 lands so I didn't want to risk flooding out (since those games are harder to win out of than ones where you're tight on mana).
I feel like the issue with black is that there just aren't enough creatures. To me, the aggressive nature of this format means that you have to use your removal cards early to preserve your life total, and you can't really afford to sandbag them for bomb creatures (like in scars block) unless you're ahead or have board parity. Since most of the creatures are just dorky losers, your own dorky losers are just better, since they'll trade in combat with theirs, OR, if they don't have any, yours will just kill your opponent. Given that, if you draft black, you can't necessarily prioritize removal over creatures unless you're also in a color with lots of creatures, because you won't be able to just pick up creatures later since there aren't that many good ones. After this draft, I can see why people like the R/B aggro deck, since you can take the good removal cards like Brimstone Volley, Geistflame, Victim, Dead Weight, etc. and just clean up with your crappy kessig wolf or whatever. Maybe I should have just ignored the stalker and started taking red creatures, especially after I had the 1st victim of night.
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